Diabetes Care for Kaqchikel Maya

Dear friends, 

We are very excited about plans for our diabetes programing in 2013. We've just hired some new staff to expand our capacity. This has become very important lately, as our panel of diabetic patients has continued to grow. In particular, we are now managing a core group of patients with very long-standing diabetes who are dealing with some significant diabetes-related complications, such as kidney failure. Intensive management of these complex patients, requires dedicated and competent local staff, and so the new hires are a first step towards addressing these new needs. 

In addition, we are happy to report that the result of some of our work with diabetics in Guatemala have just been published here and is available for reading free of charge. This study was conducted by some of our medical students and volunteers, who examined health patterns in our diabetic panel, with the goal of helping us improve our programming. Already, the results are having an impact on our plans for the year. For example, the study found that lack of strong family supports is a big factor in adherence to medication regimens and diabetic diets, and so we are putting more home visits and other similar supports in place for our patients this year. Similarly, the study demonstrated very high rates of obesity in our population, much higher than we had anticipated, and so we are thinking hard about what we can do to incorporate a more focused approach to weight loss and exercise into our patient education this year. 

As always, thanks so much for your support, and don't hesitate to write me at peter@wuqukawoq.org if you have any questions!

Links:

• Our main website
• Our Facebook page